Saturday, April 16, 2011

Ft. Pickens at the Gulf Shores Nat'l Seashore, Pensacola FL

Our last stop before heading on home was 3 nights at Ft. Pickens in Pensacola, FL. What an awesome place! From Pensacola Beach, it's a nine mile drive down a 2 lane street with awesome white sand on both sides and the bluest, greenest water imaginable! The campground was well kept and quiet...except for the Blue Angels practicing every morning at 8:30...I loved it! Ed slept through it! After we set up, we took a walk along the beach...I don't think I've ever seen such soft, white sand! And the water was amazingly warm! The first morning, we woke up to the Blue Angels flying overhead...so of course, I ran outside with the camara. I should mention that photography is not one of my better talents. After several pictures, I gave up and took a few videos...much better! See a sample at the end of this blog! After breakfast, we hiked over to Ft. Pickens and took a self-guided tour of the fort...very interesting! It's named after the American Revolutionary War hero Andrew Pickens. The fort was completed in 1834 and remained in use until 1947. Here's a link for a little history of the fort: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Pickens. After our tour, we walked back to the RV along the bay side. We had a very relaxing day and evening...gearing up for a busy next day! The next morning, we were again serenaded by the Blue Angels...I never tire of watching them!Then we decided to head to the National Naval Aviation Museum, which is located at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola. We could've spent 3 days visiting the place, but we had only a few hours so we took a trolley ride around the outside of the museum, with a very knowledgable guide, and then spent the remaining few hours browsing around the displays inside. On our way back to the RV we stopped at McGuire's Irish Pub where Ed had the largest Reuben he'd ever seen and I had a steak burger smothered with grilled vidalia onions...yumm! Ft. Pickens is definitely a must-see and we will be adding it to our regular stops to and from Texas!